Newswise — No graduate nursing program in the Lone Star State is ranked higher than The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Nursing, according to the just-released 2018 edition of the influential Best Graduate Schools guide.

UTHealth School of Nursing holds place No. 23 nationwide among 532 master’s programs surveyed by U.S. News & World Report. Also, among the 186 Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) programs ranked by U.S. News & World Report, UTHealth’s D.N.P. program at No. 23 remains the highest-ranked in Texas.

“We are very proud that UTHealth continues to place in the top five percent of all U.S. nursing graduate schools and we are also very proud that we are well respected for the quality of our Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.) programs,” said Lorraine Frazier, Ph.D., R.N., the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair in Nursing Education Leadership, the John P. McGovern Distinguished Professor in Nursing and the dean of UTHealth School of Nursing.

“The collaborative strengths of all six UTHealth schools and the opportunities provided by our location in the Texas Medical Center make for a unique, high-quality educational experience at all degree levels,” she said.

In the 2017 survey, UTHealth’s Nurse Anesthesia master’s/doctorate program was ranked in the top 10 at No. 8 by U.S. News & World Report on its “Health Disciplines” list. UTHealth’s last five classes of Nurse Anesthesia graduates scored first-attempt pass rates of 100 percent on the National Certifying Examination administered by the National Board on Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists.

UTHealth’s D.N.P. program was ranked No. 24 last year. Historically, UTHealth was the first nursing school in Texas to offer the D.N.P. degree, graduating the first-ever D.N.P. class of nine students in 2009.

“Our D.N.P. program is educating nurse practitioners/clinical nurse specialists, nurse executives, nurse anesthetists, and nurse informatics as clinical nurse scholars who are making innovative and outstanding contributions as leaders in health care by improving quality and safety of health care for individuals, populations, communities, and organizations,” said Joanne V. Hickey, Ph.D., R.N., coordinator of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program at UTHealth School of Nursing.

“Our students and graduates are the leaders who are shaping the present and future of health care, and we are so proud of them!” said Hickey, the Patricia L. Starck/PARTNERS Endowed Professor in Nursing.

For the Best Graduate Schools 2018 guidebook, programs at the 532 nursing schools with master’s or doctoral programs accredited by either the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing were surveyed in summer 2016. Of those, 292 responded with complete data and were deemed eligible for ranking.

UTHealth first appeared as a top-ranked graduate nursing program in the 2001 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Rankings for Best Graduate Schools 2018 and full methodologies were released online this week at: www.usnews.com/grad.

With more than 1,530 students currently enrolled, the UTHealth School of Nursing has granted 10,709 nursing degrees to its graduates since 1972. For more, visit nursing.uth.edu